Since time memorial, it seems that there has been a conflict between the industrialization of the continent and its burgeoning population. Not until 1970, however, did this conflict become a matter of national conscience by virtue of the passage, by Congress, of the Environmental Quality Improvement Act which, together with several Executive Orders, established the EPA and several other related organizations. Since that time, however, the high-minded goals of the EPA have become stark reality for millions of people whose rudimentary requirements for existence have become threatened by the by-products of an industrial age.
1. Field of the Invention
Fundamental to the needs of human beings, is their water supply. Irrespective of the source of that supply, be it melting snows, subterranean ponding and/or alluvial flow, or even by virtue of the desalinization of ocean waters, is an absolute indispensible necessity of life. In those areas where the water supply is essentially subterranean, it is highly susceptible to pollution through industrial, chemical, agricultural, and even human waste, which percolates from the surface through the soils to the supply. In ore arid areas, due to burgeoning populations, it is not realistic to believe that sufficient potable water supplies can be divined without reclamation, and it has become vital, indeed crucial, for means to be devised for the removal of pollutants, including such chemicals as DBCP, from the water supply in an efficient and timely manner, in order to met the demands placed on this natural resource. The present invention addresses, and meets, this and similar quandries faced by man, and presents a truly unique and practical solution.
On a different level, while still focusing on the environment, the invention finds great utility in the processing of industrial and municipal waste water. Due to its versatility and compactness, its use promises great efficiency and financial savings over present day state of the art systems.
2. Overview of the Prior Art
While the present invention does not claim to be a pioneer in the use of oxidants, such as ozone, in the treatment of waste water, it does provide a unique process for removal of solid, chemical and bacterial wastes from such waters. Certainly prior to the closed loop system of Lee, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,671, issued in 1974, scientists, recognizing the value of oxidants other than chlorine in water treatment, sought ways of effective use of the oxidation process in water treatment. One of the more erudite, but somewhat impractical, efforts is described in Stopka U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,061, which extoles the use of a very long, small diameter conduit as a mixer and clarifier, which is maintained, under pressure, to increase the exposure time between the fluid to be treated and ozone. The specification itself, however, provides a rather good chronology on the history of water purification.
Still other efforts to take advantage of the basic reaction between an oxidizer such as ozone, and the fluid to be treated may be found in such patents as Donnelly, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,399, Kirk U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,918, Herbrechtsmeier et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,717, Turk U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,578 and Dananault U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,687. Upon review of these patents, however, it will be appreciated that none of these patents, either singly, or in any reasonable combination, suggests or disclose the present invention.